Campos: Belmonte leads star-studded field at PBA's Indianapolis Open

Saturday

INDIANAPOLIS — The best bowler on the planet and one of the greatest bowlers of all time are 1-2 going into Sunday’s national televised finals of the GoBowling! PBA Indianapolis Open.

Jason Belmonte of Australia averaged 229.69, went 16-8 in match play and led the field by 386 pins to earn the top spot in the FS1 TV finals for the third straight week.

PBA Hall of Fame bowler Norm Duke, a 38-time PBA champion from Clermont, Fla., qualified second and will be trying to win on the national tour at the age of 54. He won his two most recent national tour titles — the 2012 Dick Weber Playoffs and the 2015 Roth//Holman Doubles — at Woodland Bowl.

Belmonte, who uses a two-handed delivery, tied a PBA record by leading his third straight tournament. If he wins on Sunday, it will be his 20th career title. He won the PBA Tournament of Champions two weeks ago, and lost the PBA Players Championship last Sunday when he left a pocket 7-10 split in the 10th frame against eventual winner Anthony Simonsen.

“I was really disappointed in the way I finished last season,” said Belmonte, who did not make a telecast in his final five tournaments of 2018 and finished 46th in the U.S. Open. “ I didn’t want to come over here and waste my time, being away from my family and not make cuts.

“I worked really hard, making sure that I created more repetition in my game in certain areas that I felt like were lacking. I worked really, really hard on that, and I’m really happy to say that spending all those extra hours late at night on the training lanes is paying off.”

Duke, who hasn’t won since he and Malott claimed the Roth/Holman doubles in 2015, made the show despite going through some difficulties with his game.

“I’m still struggling, wearing some shoes that I haven’t worn ever,” he said. “I haven’t been able to work out my thumb because of my (injured) elbow. I’ve had to change everything, and I’m literally bowling like crap. I can be a lot better than this.

“A lot if it is fatigue, even though I work out all the time. At 54, it hurts. I’m sore, and because you’re not pure with your armswing, it hurts worse.”

Duke, who averaged 221.57 and went 14-9-1 in match play, had to change the brand of shoes he wore for 25 years because he suffers from turf toe, and because the company does not make them anymore.

JUNIOR CHAMPS: Peter Milich was the big winner in the recent Peoria River City USBC Association Youth City Tournament at Landmark Lanes.

He won Division D titles in singles (616), doubles (1,271, with Jeff McBride), all events (1,807), and was on the U-20 winning team Plaza/Landmark (3,017 with handicap) along with Austin Hall, Audrey Blair and McBride.

Hall also won Division E all events (1,912 scratch off a 173 average) and singles (675). McBride was second in singles (633) and all events (1,849 off a 167 average).

Grace Liening won the Division C singles (492) and doubles (904 with Tommy Liening), while Logan Roberts was the winner in Division B singles (354) and all events (1,031).

MISSED AGAIN: The organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics did not include bowling in its recommendations to the International Olympic Committee.

The sports recommended for the Paris Games were breakdancing, surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing. The other finalists reportedly included baseball, squash and karate.

CLOSE ONE: A 300-300 tie almost happened again on Monday in the Bill Mastronardi/Striketown Bowl Masters league at Roxy’s Lanes in Pekin.

But Plaza Lanes anchor bowler Mark Stenger left a 7-pin on his final ball of the night and dropped a 300-299 decision to WingStop anchor bowler Steve Taylor. Taylor, who finished the final game first, also won series against Stenger, 823-801.

But the Plaza Lanes team won the match 30-20 despite the scores by Taylor and a 300 by Dan Shinall for WingStop. Pete Burdette added a 756 for Plaza, Dillard Clark 755 and Gary Robinson a 697 for a 2,994 team series — the ninth highest four-man team score in the nation this season.

JOHNNY CAMPOS is the Journal Star bowling columnist. He can be reached at 686-3214 or jcampos@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @JohnnyCampos59.

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